Since her death, people have got Jane Austen wrong. The real Jane - revealed for the first time in this landmark biography - was a less cosy, more spiky, more modern figure than she is usually imagined to be. Far from retelling a familiar story, Byrne's book uses new research and new techniques to give us Jane Austen for the 21st century.

This book provides a detailed exploration of the relationships between individual architects, educators, artists and designers that laid the foundation and shaped the approach to designing new school buildings in postwar Britain. It explores the life and work of Mary Medd (ne Crowley) (1907-2005) who was alongside her husband and professional partner, David Medd, one of the most important modernist architects of the 20th century.